Get Ready For The Eyes Of T.J. Mecklenberg In 3D

Film geeks on the Internet are abuzz today with the release of the first full trailer for Baz Luhrman's epic reimagining of THE GREAT GATSBY.  And it is epic indeed.  It was also shot in 3D and the trailer has a few shots which indicate how this might work (i.e. glittery confetti falling at a party). It also has an anachronistic soundtrack which one would expect from Luhrman, who infused 70s disco into fin de siecle Paris.  But I'm not so sure about the rap and the Gatz mixing here. However, it is common these days for contemporary songs to be used in period trailers strictly for marketing purposes.

While this does look exciting (New York in the '20s...in color!), it also gave me a bit of a sinking feeling as I recalled another N.Y.C. early 20th century epic from another mad movie genius;  2005's KING KONG courtesy of Peter Jackson. That one was pretty to look at but ended up being a snooze.  We'll have to wait until Christmas Day to see if Luhrman's glitzy take on one of the great American novels has more to it than just pretty pictures.

THE GREAT GATSBY 5: This Time It's In 3D!

That's right--brace yourself for the 5th filmed adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic American novel, this time in glorious 3D!  Australian impressario Baz Luhrman starts filming  at Fox Studios in Sydney this week with a glittery cast headed by Leonardo DiCaprio as the title character and Tobey Maguire as the cutest Nick Carraway the screen has ever seen.  Carey Mulligan is playing Daisy Buchanan, which seems like it could be spot on.

I can only imagine the spectacular spectacle Baz has in mind with a reported budget of $125M.  When I first saw this story (and the pricetag!) on the Hollywood Reporter website, I thought that he was making a musical version.  But his innovation this time out is 3D, which doesn't seem like a such great idea for this particular story.  I can already see the camera zooming-in through the spectacles of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg. But other than that? 

Then again, I was impressed by his take on Shakespeare's overdone R&J (with more than 30 versions on IMDB). So maybe he can surprise us with this remake too.  Baz's glittery GATSBY will hit theatres in November 2012 in hopes of catching Oscar's attention.